Colleagues support Michaud Re-election bid funds also from eclectic group of PACs, Mainers

By DAN OSHINSKY, STATES NEWS SERVICE•July 24, 2003 7:29 am

WASHINGTON – Seventeen House Democrats have donated $1,000 checks to the re-election campaign of Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, showing there is strong concern by House colleagues that the freshman could be targeted in 2004.

In a campaign finance filing with the Federal Election Commission, Michaud also reported that he had strong support from political action committees as disparate as the American Sugar Cane League, based in Thibodaux, La., to the National Funeral Directors Association of Brookfield, Wis. These, and other PACs, have shown an interest in Michaud primarily because of his position on the House Small Business Committee.

From April through June, Michaud raised $192,143 and now has about $146,241 in cash on hand when expenses are deducted. About three-fourths of Michaud’s support came from PACs, with much of that money coming from labor organizations. About a third of the money came from business PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Only two of the donating PACs were based in Maine: The UNUM Provident PAC of Portland contributed $250 and the Maine Bankers Association of Augusta gave $1,000.

Other PAC contributions included $5,000 donations from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the machinists union, the Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the carpenters’ union.

Several Maine residents maxed out with $2,000 donations, including Robert Monks, a Republican campaign financier from Cape Elizabeth who is crossing the line to back Michaud. Other major donors are Muriel Mosher, vice president of MEP Management Service of Augusta, and Steven Tremblay of Cape Elizabeth. Maine State Auditor Gail Chase contributed $500.

Michaud’s colleague, four-term veteran Allen, pulled in $128,580 according to the current filing. The congressman closed the period with $113,236 in cash on hand.

Allen’s main contributions came from private citizens, who totaled more than 57 percent of the collected funds for this filing, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Most of the rest came from labor PACs.

Allen received no funding from ideological or single-issue PACs, nor did he raise any funds from other members in Congress.

Private citizens contributing donations over $2,000 to the Allen campaign, according to the FEC, included Sara Boxer of Cape Elizabeth, Madeleine Corson of Falmouth, Robert Flory of Damariscotta, Shepard Lee of Cape Elizabeth, Catherine and Joseph Martin of Cumberland Foreside, Robert Monks of Cape Elizabeth, Bonnie Porter of Cape Elizabeth and Lyndell Wishcamper of Freeport.